The Hidden and Heretofore Inaccessible Power of Integrity: A New Model (PDF of Keynote Slides)

SSRN; Harvard Business School; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI); Harvard University - Accounting & Control Unit

Date Written: September 18, 2014

Abstract

There is far too much concern today about the conflicts of interest between people; for example, conflicts of interest between agents and owners - a favorite topic of Jensen - and not enough attention paid to the damage caused by an individual's conflict of interest with himself or herself.

We argue here that a large amount of the damage inflicted on people and organizations is caused by actions of individuals that are not in their own self interest. That is, people consistently impose costs on their loved ones, friends, associates, partners, employers and the public by actions that are not in their own self interest.

We present a positive model of integrity that, as we distinguish and define integrity, provides powerful access to increased performance for individuals, groups, organizations, and societies. Our model reveals the causal link between integrity and increased performance, quality of life, and value-creation for all entities, and provides access to that causal link. Integrity is thus a factor of production as important as knowledge and technology, yet its major role in productivity and performance has been largely hidden or unnoticed, or even ignored by economists and others.

Corporate Governance: Social Responsibility & Social Impact eJournal

Subscribe to this fee journal for more curated articles on this topic

FOLLOWERS

144

PAPERS

3,849

This Journal is curated by:

Lucian A. Bebchuk at Harvard Law School, Marc J Epstein at Rice University - Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business, Geoffrey M. Heal at Columbia Business School - Finance and Economics, Donald John Roberts at Stanford Graduate School of Business